Teachers offer ideas about cuts

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM

By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune's staff

Columbia Public Schools should eliminate curriculum coaching positions and reduce central office staff to save the money, teachers said in a newly released survey intended to gather ideas about how to help turn around a looming budget deficit.

Results from a survey of teachers and staff were posted this morning on the school district's Web site, www.columbia.k12.mo.us. Responses are broken down by individual school buildings.

Administrators will use that feedback to help develop a list of recommended budget cuts for the school board to consider at its March 10 meeting, district spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said. She stressed that the responses from teachers are not the recommended cuts.

"The board will be making the final decisions," she said.

The school board has pledged to slice about $5 million from operating expenses to offset an expected $10.26 million deficit in the coming school year. The district also is asking voters on April 8 to approve a 54-cent tax levy increase to ease the shortfall and fund future expenses.

Teachers at nearly every school recommended that the district eliminate math, literacy, Positive Behavior Support and Assessment For Learning coaches. Fourteen math coaches were created this school year along with coaches for Assessment For Learning, an internal program implemented to guide teaching practices.

"The lit and math coaches the district has hired are nice to have, but a luxury we can't afford at this point. They don't have direct contact with students," one staff member from Jefferson Junior High School wrote. "And while their advice is well received by some, others ignore their suggestions."

An employee at Ridgeway Elementary agreed, saying all but the literacy coaches should be cut. "Classroom teachers are overwhelmed with the variety of coaches in recent years," the employee wrote. "I spend a majority of my planning time in AFL, PBS, math coach and literacy meetings. The sacrifice has been the reflective planning that needs to happen in order for my classroom to be run smoothly."

A teacher at Shepard Elementary said she has received limited help from the coaching positions. "Instead, they attend meetings, conferences and meetings within their individual groups to provide us with 'new' programs and ideas that we are left to implement on our own while 'trying' to teach children the CPS curriculum that have severe needs and deficiencies and bring us 'better' programs again. We do not need PBS coaches that stand in the hall with a clip board to monitor children! Education?"

Administrative positions and salaries also took heat from those who participated in the survey, including a Shepard Elementary employee who questioned whether the district is too top-heavy.

"It seems that upper administration (not building-level administration) needs to be seriously considered as an area of financial concern," the Shepard employee wrote. " ? While district administrative positions are important, school faculty and staff members along with curricular directors are much more vital to the individual students, their achievement and their families."

Some employees also said they wouldn't mind the district freezing the salary schedule in the coming year if it would salvage teaching positions.

In a survey asking if any equipment could be cut, teachers repeatedly cited SmartBoards. The district is using $5 million from last April's $60 million bond issue to install the interactive white boards in all core classrooms. However, those funds come from debt service, which is separate from the operating budget.

"I don't think the district necessarily needs to have the leading-edge, state-of-the-art technology," a Douglass High School employee wrote. "I think the tail might be wagging the dog a little bit with technology."

Reach Janese Heavin at (573) 815-1705 or jheavin@tribmail.com.

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